What is my Carbon Footprint? Part 1

Ok. So I want to help in the fight against global warming. Where do I start?

I scoured various green books and various green sites and determined that in order to know what I should do to help the planet, I should first identify how much I’m impacting the planet with my current lifestyle. This is where the carbon footprint calculator comes in.

As defined by Wikipedia, a carbon footprint is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product. The carbon footprint calculator will help me answer the question, “How much greenhouse gas (specifically carbon dioxide – CO2) released in the atmosphere is caused by me?”

There are many calculators in the internet. Some calculators are very specific. It will ask for the actual electricity consumption of your house for a specific period. You’ll need to input the fuel efficiency of your car or the exact details of your plane flights including the distance traveled. Other calculators just ask for an overview or an estimate, like how many rooms there are in your house, how many cars you drive and the average distance driven per year.

Since I’m not one who knows the nitty-gritty details of my lifestyle, I prefer the second set of calculators. I specifically like the calculators in Yahoo (http://green.yahoo.com/calculator) and the Global Footprint Network (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/).

The Yahoo Green carbon footprint calculator is very simple. You have the option to calculate your individual carbon footprint or the entire household’s. There are three categories that will need your input on: your home, your automobile, and your plane trips.

In the home category, you’ll need to enter the type of building you live in, the number of bedrooms in your house, the number of people residing there, and the state you live in. Unfortunately, the available choices for state are all in the US. I just randomly chose a state here even if I’m not from the US.

In the road category, you’ll need to specify if you drive a car or not. If you do drive one, you’ll need to select the type of car you’re driving and the average distance traveled per year. You can add additional cars if you own more than one.

In the plane trip category, you’ll need to specify if you fly or not. If you fly, you’ll need to input the average number of short, medium and overseas place trips you take in a year.

And that’s it! Click on the “Calculate My Carbon” button and you have your carbon footprint. So my carbon footprint is….. 10.2 tons of CO2 emitted in a year? Are you kidding me? My carbon footprint is even greater than the 9.44 tons a year for the average American! Sigh, at least I have a number to begin working with.

I’ll feature the Global Footprint Network calculator in my next post.